CHICAGO (AP) — Yu Darvish has a new diagnosis on his injury: It’s a right elbow impingement and inflammation.
Darvish went to Texas to get another opinion on the sore triceps muscle that flared up again in a bullpen session on Thursday. Following the Cubs’ 10-6 win over Minnesota on Friday, team spokesman Peter Chase confirmed the right-hander had consulted with Dr. Keith Meister, an orthopedic surgeon who is one of the Texas Rangers’ team physicians.
During the visit, Darvish got a cortisone shot in the area. Chase said the injection would take three to five days “to settle in.”
The 31-year-old Darvish broke into the majors with the Rangers and pitched for them from 2012 until he was traded to the Dodgers last July.
The setback ended plans for the right-hander’s return to the Cubs’ rotation this weekend.
Before Friday’s win, manager Joe Maddon said there’s no timetable for Darvish’s return.
“We’d love to have him out there pitching but it’s not going to happen,” Maddon said. “I don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen.”
Darvish said his strength and endurance was good after he played catch on Wednesday while the Cubs were in Los Angeles. He threw a five-inning, 57-pitch rehab start with Class A South Bend on Monday.
But Darvish suffered a setback in his bullpen session on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
Maddon said it was “easy” to tell something was wrong with the righty and that he wasn’t using “a normal throwing stroke.”
“I watched his workout yesterday and you could tell that something wasn’t appropriate or right,” Maddon said. “So we had to take it to this next level and be patient with it.”
Chris Gimenez, who caught Darvish in the bullpen, said, “You could tell he wasn’t feeling the greatest.”
Darvish had been scheduled to start Saturday against the Twins, but will be replaced by Tyler Chatwood, who came off the paternity list.
Darvish signed a $126 million, six-year free-agent deal with the Cubs in February, but is just 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA in eight starts. He didn’t earn his first win until May 20 in Cincinnati, his final start before going on the disabled list on May 26 with tendinitis in his right triceps.
Darvish had Tommy John surgery in March 2015, and returned on May 28, 2016.
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